Arturo Jimenez, member of the DPS School Board. (Manuel Martinez, Viva Colorado)

Denver Public Schools board member Arturo Jimenez told his fellow board members in an email this week that he would not repay any board expenses.

A short string of emails was released today by DPS after an open records request from The Denver Post.

In the email signed by Jimenez, dated Wednesday, Jimenez states, "I never incurred any expenses that were not related to my work on the Board. In addition, I have never "overspent," under Board practice as it existed prior to the new policy clarification."

He has not returned a request for comment today.

The expenses in question are from the last fiscal year that ended June 2011.

In the final accounting for that fiscal year, Andrea Merida and Jimenez were found to have exceeded their $5,000 budgets. Merida had spent $12,427.87, and Jimenez spent $6,153.29.

The accounting was initially bogged down by a previous lack of policy on board expenses, or a clear process for how to report expenses.

Previous policy was only a few lines long, allowing reimbursement for a phone line, mileage and conference-related travel. Only a few items, including charging things for guests, were specifically banned.

The $5,000 budget limit per board member was not in writing, but board members said they learned about it during an orientation after being elected.

Advertisement

Among the $6,153.29 in charges that Jimenez incurred last fiscal year are charges he states in the email "should have been properly charged to other departments in the district."

Creating a new policy for board member spending was made a priority after the overspending was revealed by then-board- president Nate Easley during a meeting in late August.

Jimenez had previously said he would pay back his overages after clarifying any erroneous charges.

"There's been a changing policy, but if it's determined that I've gone over and I'm responsible, then I'm happy to pay it back," Jimenez said in September.

Merida initially said she would not pay any overages back to the district, but less than two days later reversed her decision and said, "I'm happy to pay back anything I owe, but I'm not going to make a knee-jerk reaction."

Merida wanted to make sure certain expenses, such as phone lines, were not counted against her $5,000 budget.

Five board members — including Merida — were being reimbursed for a phone line last year, but those bills did not count against the $5,000 limit.

Merida was reimbursed for a Verizon cellphone, a Vonage home phone and a T-Mobile cellphone. The $410.38 for the home phone and $205.43 for T-Mobile were initially being counted toward her $5,000 limit, while $2,134.04 in Verizon cellphone bills did not.

In October, when the new board-spending policy was unanimously approved, Jimenez once again said he was ready to pay back anything he owed.

Jimenez said that he would first use the new policy to guide a look at his previous expenses, even though the policy was not enacted retroactively.

At that time, he also vowed to stop using his district credit card until the issue was resolved.

According to more current credit-card statements obtained by The Denver Post through a separate open records request, from the beginning of July through the end of November - the most recent statements available — Jimenez stopped using his credit card in July and only had one charge at Tamale Kitchen in September.

In Wednesday's email, Jimenez said he has not signed an authorization to obtain a new credit card.

"And I am not sure that I will do so in the future until you can assure me that procedures are in place so that "others" and they know who they are, will not be allowed to utilize our board expenditures for political fuel."

In response to his email, now board president Mary Seawell, told Jimenez she was not sure how to interpret his email and asked him to give her a call.

On Thursday, board member Jeannie Kaplan chimed in with an email calling for the board and the superintendent to write a letter to "set the record straight."

"It makes it very difficult to move on from this when the Post insists on repeating lies," Kaplan wrote. "Now she (Andrea) and Jimenez need to make good on their promises to pay the district for the overages last year. I do not recall either person promising to do this; this has not been the case for the previous six years of my term."

Kaplan goes on to question how far back the spending should be considered.

"Perhaps we should go after Kevin Patterson's overages for the years he was on the board? He went over thousands of dollars almost every year of his service. Or maybe we take an honest look at expenditures for all of us. Or maybe all of the above," Kaplan wrote.

A spreadsheet of records going back five years shows that between 2005 and 2010, Patterson overspent the $5,000 budget four times; in 2007, he spent $10,291.31.

In the previous five years, Jill Conrad, Michelle Moss and Jimenez also went over the $5,000 limit. With the exception of a $12,392.45 tally by Conrad in 2007, in most cases they went over by no more than a few hundred dollars.

In October, Merida said in a statement, that she had attempted to pay back her overages, but said that her payment was rejected.

Easley and three other DPS officials denied that she had made any such attempt.

Between July and November of this fiscal year, Meridaspent $3,424.56. She is budgeted to spend up to $5,000 through the end of June 2012.

Rockies relief pitcher John Axford, who hasn't pitched for the team since last Wednesday, was forced to leave spring training camp after his 2-year-old son was bit by a rattlesnake twice in his right foot.

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

DETROIT (AP) — In a story March 27 about a 'Little Syria' exhibit going to Ellis Island, The Associated Press, due to incorrect information from the Arab American National Museum, erroneously reported the date the exhibit will open. Full Story